Raspberry buttermilk cake

As much as I love baking, I don't bake cakes very often as you might have noticed. I'm just not a huge fan. Don't get me wrong, I do like a lovely slice of cake occasionally and I enjoy baking and decorating cakes for a group of people, but I just rather deal with banana bread, muffins, or even souffles if I get to choose. Maybe it's because I rarely come across a really good slice of cake...they're all either too sweet, too much cream (I usually scrape them off), too dry, not enough chocolate...I know, I am picky.

So it just happens that 2 months ago I had some buttermilk left in my fridge that was waiting to go bad...I hate it when it happens! So it was time for me to look for recipes which requires a decent amount of buttermilk as well as the ingredients I have in my pantry.

Then I came across this simple Raspberry Buttermilk cake from another food blogger. It looks simple. Ordinary. It didn't make me particularly excited to be honest...but I had all the ingredients and they were the ingredients that I was hoping to use up!

It took no time to whip up and before I know it, this simple tea cake was ready to be consumed.

The verdict? This is my type of cake - not too sweet and it's soft (in fact, it stayed soft and moist for days because of the buttermilk) and it was just simple. It's an everyday cake. Kind of like a simple summer dress that is nothing fancy but you wear it all the time just because it makes you look good.

I'll definitely be making this again next time I have buttermilk sitting in my fridge.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
Adapted from Gourmet, June 2009

You can just ignore the word “raspberry” up there and swap it up with any which berry you please, like blackberries or blueberries or bits of strawberries or all of the above. This is a good, basic go-to buttermilk cake (not unlike a lemon yogurt cake before it) — moist and ever-so-light — a great jumping off point for whatever you can dream up.

Makes one thin 9-inch cake, which might serve eight people.

• 1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick (56 grams) unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup (146 grams) plus 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
• 1 large (57 grams) egg
• 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 oz)

Preheat oven to 400°F (or 204°C) with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup (146 grams) sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes, then beat in vanilla and zest, if using. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter (see Note) raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.